Steve Russell will head the Franklin County Children’s Task Force.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Steve Russell has spent part of his life making the county a better place for children and their families.

So, it came as no surprise Wednesday when the Franklin County Children’s Task Force announced that Russell was chosen to be its new executive director, a position vacated by Liz Kuhlman, who held the position for nearly a decade.

“I am pretty excited,” said Russell, who was chosen from a pool of 15 applicants. “The Franklin County Children’s Task Force is a great organization and they run some real quality programs.”

For the past 17 years, he has served as the director of Head Start, Early Head Start and Child Care services in the county. With Russell at the helm, the organization grew from operating on an annual budget of $600,000 with 16 staff to having a $3 million budget and 64 staff members.

He also served as the chairperson of the New England Head Start Association and is a graduate of the Head Start – Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program at the University of California at Los Angeles.

“The task force has been blessed with having great leadership in the past, and I hope I can continue that. It’s a good situation for me to be moving into,” said Russell, who is no new face to the organization. He serves as the chairperson of one of the task force’s most successful programs, Growing Healthy Families. “It really fits with my desire to work in this community helping children and their families.”

Russell is also a member of the Farmington Rotary Club, on the Board of Directors for the Farmington-Wilton Chamber of Commerce and an assistant coach for his son’s Little League team.

A resident of Farmington, he lives with his wife, Gladys, a biology teacher at Livermore Falls High School, and his son Benjamin, a sixth-grader at Cascade Brook School. Russell’s older son, Nathan, is a junior attending film school at New York University.

According to Luralee Knapp, chairperson of the force’s Board of Directors, one of Russell’s strong points is his connections with area children’s advocates and program directors. “His whole life has been the business of children and families and he is already familiar with the people he will be working with, from the local to the national level. We are very lucky to have him coming on.”

Kuhlman, who is moving to Utah later in the summer, echoes Knapp’s enthusiasm about the new leader. “I am just really delighted. I’ve never known anyone in my professional career who I’ve respected more. It makes me feel confident in the future of the task force. I really think Steve is going to hit the deck running. He knows the community he works and lives in.”

Although the summer will be a season of change for the task force, the board and the employees of the nonprofit are positive. “We wish Liz well, and we will certainly miss her,” said Knapp. “But we can move forward knowing we are in very good hands.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com